Confession to a priest

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My brother who has left the Catholic Church likes to tell me…" Where is this in the Bible?"

Lately he’s been asking why we need to confess to a Priest when Jesus alone can forgive sins.

I have looked up confession in the CCC and found good evidence and material there, however one mention about confessing to a priest:

"1456 Confession to a priest is an essential part of the sacrament of Penance: "All mortal sins of which penitents after a diligent self-examination are conscious must be recounted by them in confession, even if they are most secret and have been committed against the last two precepts of the Decalogue; for these sins sometimes wound the soul more grievously and are more dangerous than those which are committed openly."54

When Christ’s faithful strive to confess all the sins that they can remember, they undoubtedly place all of them before the divine mercy for pardon. But those who fail to do so and knowingly withhold some, place nothing before the divine goodness for remission through the mediation of the priest, "for if the sick person is too ashamed to show his wound to the doctor, the medicine cannot heal what it does not know."55 "

This paragraph starts off like it will answer my question…but then (unless I’m not reading it right) doesn’t back up confessing to a priest.

I also think he’s going to have a hard time with the words, “I absolve you…” saying that the priest is doing the forgiving and not Jesus.

Any help or clarification would be great! Thanks and God bless!
 
The bible directly does not say to confess your sins to a priest. But it does say a bishop has apostolic authority to forgive sin. Also more on the subject is written by the church fathers who did teach confession to a bishop.
The church does not say you can't ask God to forgive you of your sins in prayer. He can and does. But God has also uses an extension of Christ, which is his body, the church. And in the church are his bishops who have the power or authority to forgive sin when a penitent soul comes before him. Hope this helps you. :)
 
Jesus gave the disciples to forgive sins. I dont remember the verse in the chapter but He really did. Confession to a priest is a special gift that Jesus gave to us. Yes, we can ask for forgiveness directly to GOD but if we confess to priest we are sure that our sins are forgiven by GOD, if there is an absolution of sin.
 
viktor aleksndr:
Jesus gave the disciples to forgive sins. I dont remember the verse in the chapter but He really did.
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It was John 20:23.
 
In addition to John 20:22-23 which others have mentioned, I think James 5:13-18 is also helpful because most of the elements of Confession are there: 1) get together with the priests (elders/presbyters) of the Church. 2) confess your sins to one another, i.e. confess to the priests. 3) the priests pray for you. 4) through the prayer of the priests you obtain forgiveness of your sins and healing.
 
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piscotikus:
My brother who has left the Catholic Church likes to tell me…" This paragraph starts off like it will answer my question…but then (unless I’m not reading it right) doesn’t back up confessing to a priest.

I
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the Catechism paragraphs have footnotes. The footnotes refer you the scripture citations or church documents (which include the scripture) citations. you can’t read the catechism w/o the footnotes.
 
The main argument here is that not everything is in the Bible. I would ask your brother to show you were in the Bible it states that the Bible is the only source and were in the Bible there is a list of all the books that make up the Bible.
 
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piscotikus:
My brother who has left the Catholic Church likes to tell me…" Where is this in the Bible?"

Lately he’s been asking why we need to confess to a Priest when Jesus alone can forgive sins.

I have looked up confession in the CCC and found good evidence and material there, however one mention about confessing to a priest:

"1456 Confession to a priest is an essential part of the sacrament of Penance: "All mortal sins of which penitents after a diligent self-examination are conscious must be recounted by them in confession, even if they are most secret and have been committed against the last two precepts of the Decalogue; for these sins sometimes wound the soul more grievously and are more dangerous than those which are committed openly."54

When Christ’s faithful strive to confess all the sins that they can remember, they undoubtedly place all of them before the divine mercy for pardon. But those who fail to do so and knowingly withhold some, place nothing before the divine goodness for remission through the mediation of the priest, "for if the sick person is too ashamed to show his wound to the doctor, the medicine cannot heal what it does not know."55 "

This paragraph starts off like it will answer my question…but then (unless I’m not reading it right) doesn’t back up confessing to a priest.

I also think he’s going to have a hard time with the words, “I absolve you…” saying that the priest is doing the forgiving and not Jesus.

Any help or clarification would be great! Thanks and God bless!
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The Christ speaks through the priest “In persona Christi” That is why he says “I absolve you and This is My body…” It is Christ who is speaking through the priest. The Scriptures show that Christ gave the Apostles the power to forgive sins in John 20:19-23, He gives them His authority “As the Father has sent Me, I send you.” St. Paul speaks of the “ministry of reconciliation” given him.
 
This is more than you want to know but here goes.

Confession is the Christ-given means of approaching the mystery of redemption in a vital relationship with Christ himself. Catholics see in John 20:20-23 the necessity of a confession. How can the apostles know what to bind and loose if the sins are not confessed? Moreover, confession is clearly a practice of the apostolic and subapostolic Church as attested to by the Early Church Fathers. We also understand the admonition in James 5:16 as a reference to confession. The Church later limits confession to priests, rather than to one another or publicly before the entire congregation, for discretion’s sake. Indeed, why, in the ordinary way of things, would we confess to someone who has no charism to pronounce absolution?

Since the apostles healed the sick, raised the dead, and drove out demons, it is not a stretch that in the charism of that Easter night they should have been given the commission to forgive sins in Jesus’ name. Forgiveness and reconciliation to eternal life are the chief message of the Gospel. Effective participation in that mystery would seem requisite to the complete apostolic mission.

Jesus says in this passage from John “As the Father sent me, I also send you.” We see Jesus frequently directly forgiving sin. Thus, the Apostles (which means, ‘those sent’) go and do likewise. The Greek word “forgive” is active, denoting a positive effect, so this passage is not a mere declaration of the forgiveness already effected by God.

The clear teaching of the New Testament and of the Church from earliest times has been that confession of sin and confession of faith in Jesus Christ are two sides of the same coin. Almost the first words Peter speaks to Jesus are, “I am a sinful man.” Recognition of one’s sinfulness is the recognition of Who Christ is. Recognizing the particularity of our own sinfulness and receiving our Lord’s remedy for it is an act of faith. In the Creed we say: “I believe in the forgiveness of sins.” By this we mean not just the over-arching concept of forgiveness but the personal, concrete, intimate fact.

The second chapter of II Corinthians provides an instance of Paul energetically and authoritatively pronouncing forgiveness of the incestuous man: “if I forgave any thing, to whom I forgave it, for your sakes forgave I it in the person of Christ.” (KJV) This phrase, “forgave I it in the person of Christ” strongly affirms the Catholic interpretation of John 20:23. Later, in Chapter 5, Paul writes: “God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.” (RSV) Lest one dismiss this as merely a warrant for passing along the teaching, Paul then adds: “We are ambassadors for Christ.” An ambassador is one who acts under authority in the name of the king.

When a Priest pronounces absolution, he does it as Paul did: “In the person of Christ.”
 
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piscotikus:
I also think he’s going to have a hard time with the words, “I absolve you…” saying that the priest is doing the forgiving and not Jesus.

Any help or clarification would be great! Thanks and God bless!
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Tell your brother that he is right. Only God forgives sins. That is the teaching of the Catholic Church. The Priest acts as his agent – and acts on instructions as noted in John 20:20-23. By using the words, “I absolve you” he accepts responsibility for the commission Christ has given him through that God-breathed ministry which has been passed down through Christ’s Church for two thousand years.

I went to Confession last Saturday (always the same priest, by appointment); when he places his hand on my head and pronounces the absolution I have a physical sense of Our Lord’s presence in that room. It is the voice of Jesus that speaks the words, “I absolve you.”
 
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